Chapter 32: Neko! Cheonma! Slash!

Even a face that already looked like pounded rice cake got shattered beyond recognition.

This isn’t just any sulfuric acid, it’s holy water, the saint’s special blend.

“No point in complaining about a face you didn’t have to begin with.”

“Karinnaaaa!”

Looking closely now, this thing’s personality is a lot like the cult leader’s.

But didn’t the cult leader die back then?

Did he come back out of sheer resentment?

The blob even resembles him.

“The weak are always crushed by the strong. You can deny it all you want, but that’s the truth. If you didn’t want to die, you should’ve fled that village long ago, or at least gained the strength to stand against the Four Heavenly Kings.”

I popped another vial of sulfuric acid.

“Graaahhhh!”

The fact that it’s blaming me in the first place is absurd.

This is a war between humans and the Demon King.

Did they seriously think the Hero’s Party could protect everyone?

No, they just needed someone to pour their hatred onto.

I’m not much different, either.

All the anger I bottled up as Park Si-woo has poisoned me, even now.

The only difference is that they voiced their complaints, and I hit back physically.

Now, even though this cursed body of mine can use some strength, it won’t be able to resist me for long.

“Die!”

Black tentacles surged toward me.

There’s no need to deal with each one individually.

Boom!

Slice!

The Battle Mage and Elf’s attacks were hard to ignore.

The idiot only targeted me, leaving himself wide open to the others.

“Wow, it’s really only going for the saint. What a stubborn creature.”

“I’m telling you, there’s definitely something going on between them.”

“Ugh, leave it to the quick-witted mage to notice everything.”

That’s why I dislike mages—they’re annoyingly sharp and know too much.

“What was that?”

“You’re amazing, Battle Mage.”

“Come on, be honest. What’s your connection to that thing?”

“That thing?”

They’re still people from Torris village, after all.

Do I really need to explain?

In the end, we’re like freeloaders in each other’s lives.

“We’re almost done here. Is there any point in explaining the relationship between me and that blob?”

“We’ll be climbing this tower in the future. What if something like this happens again?”

Oh, right.

But was there ever anything else like what happened in Torris?

Well, I guess there are people who hold grudges against the Hero’s Party.

But as for me personally, it’s just Torris.

“Oh, yeah. You’re right.”

“So what’s the deal? If that thing is a collection of villagers, why are they cursing you?”

If I can’t hide it any longer, I’ll have to reveal a little.

“It is strange. Shouldn’t they be thanking you for saving them?”

The elf has sharp instincts too.

I thought they’d be satisfied with just a bit of money.

It’s not even a crime here.

Death was just an everyday occurrence in that world until the latter half of the Demon King War.

“To put it simply, they think it’s my fault they ended up like this. That’s all there is to it. There are always people like that—who only quiet down after they die.”

Even if I had saved them, they would’ve died soon enough.

They cursed me right up until the end, but why?

Even if it was the Four Heavenly Kings’ curse, the result is the same—I stopped it from spreading to other villages.

I did nothing wrong. I just happened to enjoy the process.

“Yeah, I’ve had people try to pin their own mistakes on me before too.”

“My wife’s exactly like that.”

“And that thing is just a copy of the villagers from Torris. It’s like a replication of that curse-spewing mess.”

Maybe that’s why.

If I’d just killed them out of necessity, it wouldn’t have been an issue.

But because I enjoyed it, it looks like I orchestrated everything.

And besides, this place is just a replica of the village I saw.

It’s not even the real villagers.

Who knows?

Maybe if the real people from Torris were here, they would’ve thanked me for putting them out of their misery.

So why did they end up holding a grudge?

It’s petty, considering they’re already dead.

The blob, weakened by Cain and Elena’s attacks, finally let go of me. Its body was mostly slime, and the sulfuric acid mixed in must have done considerable damage.

I slowly approached the fallen creature, with only its head sticking out from the slime.

I raised my mace high.

“Karinnaaaa! Are you going to kill the villagers again?!”

Such big talk.

This time, the anguished cries of many people blended together.

Most people might feel guilt or fear in this moment, but not me.

You can’t call someone evil just because they enjoy killing, especially when the sick people of Torris attacked me first.

And good and evil?

Those are human concepts.

Even the goddess didn’t say a word against what I did.

Even if these things are really from Torris, I can shout back at them once more, with my mace raised high:

“The goddess grants you salvation.”

Crack!

“Aaaaargh! You devilish woman! You claim to be a saint! A saint, yet—aaaargh!”

The black slime, that mass of curses, flailed in its final moments before completely collapsing.

It had been regenerating and falling apart repeatedly, but now it finally lost its form.

Just before disappearing, the last remnants of its black, eye-like figure gazed at me.

Somehow, I instinctively realized something.

This 4th floor that looks like an exact copy of Torris… isn’t a copy after all.

This is like…

“You guys were real, weren’t you?”

The slime’s final form gave off that impression.

Or maybe not.

Whatever the case, I’ve taken care of the cursed lump of flesh, and now it’s loot time.

So, what treasures have we dropped today?

As I poked through the black puddle with my mace, I dug up a few items.

“You’ve got a strong stomach.”

Cain remarked, reaching into the puddle himself.

Ah, that’s actually filled with sulfuric acid.

It’s a special holy water, so it’s much more potent than regular acid.

If a normal human touched it, they’d be reduced to bones.

“Careful, you’ll need magic to touch that stuff. It’s melted with sulfuric acid.”

“You crazy woman! I almost screwed myself!”

Cain recoiled in shock.

The effects aren’t permanent, and it will disappear soon, but it stings a bit to see him so openly repulsed.

“You’re hurting my feelings talking like that.”

“Yeah, but who in their right mind would be happy to see sulfuric acid?”

“Fair point.”

But, you know, life is like that sometimes.

In the end, the innocent elf Elena had her sylph blow away the puddle with wind magic.

What was left behind gleamed like jewels uncovered from grains of sand.

That sylph is quite handy.

We could just wipe out monsters and leave only the loot behind.

“Wow, that sylph is useful!”

“Right? Seems like she’s perfect for gathering loot.”

“I told you I’m part of the main force too!”

Elena chimed in.

That’s more force than we need.

The lower floors are probably already being held off by the Neko cheonma.

“Anyway, this is the key to the 5th floor. And wait, this is a pretty pure mana stone!”

“We’ll split it with the Neko cheonma and the orc later.”

“What’s this?”

The elf handed me a white scale.

A faint, ethereal light shimmered over the scale, and ancient characters were inscribed on it.

I knew what it was.

“It’s the Scale of Truth, a holy relic.”

It’s a scale that can determine truth from lies.

“What can you put on it?”

“It’s simple. For example, you hold it and ask the elf a question.”

I held the scale and pointed it at the elf.

The scale emitted a faint light as it locked onto the target.

“Me?”

“Innocent elf, were you a man in the past?”

“Yeah, I told you!”

Creak.

The side of the scale labeled ‘truth’ in ancient Yucra text dipped downward.

“As you can see, the side labeled ‘truth’ goes down in ancient Yucra.”

“And if it’s a lie, the ‘false’ side goes down?”

Exactly.

I have no idea how it works, since only the ancients knew that, and it’s not something you can just dissect.

“Yes, the opposite side is labeled ‘false.’ You’re quite sharp, Cain.”

“Well, then it’s not going to be that expensive. These kinds of magic tools are fairly common nowadays.”

That’s true.

With Earth’s advanced science as a foundation, humanity managed to develop magical tools based on that.

Truth-detecting devices are mostly used in law enforcement, but it’s not like they’re impossible for the general public to get either.

“Did it really need to be shaped like a scale, though?”

“Who knows? Maybe the ancients just liked scales.”

“Yeah, so it’s probably not super expensive, but we should hang onto it anyway.”

“Are we going straight to the 5th floor?”

“How about we head back down? If we keep pushing forward, it’ll lead to a real bloodbath.”

As always, hunters are a rotten bunch.

Even I’ve had idiots challenge me without knowing their place.

Do you think the Neko cheonma and the orc would let things slide?

Let’s finish looting first.

“Hold on, will these mana stones alone be enough? They’re not worth much, right?”

“Elf, if you sell those, they’d fetch tens of millions.”

“Really?”

It certainly seems that way.

“We cleared out an entire floor. With this much mana stone, you could sell it on the black market in no time.”

I can guarantee that.

Since the mana stones came from humans, they aren’t even cloudy.

Even if they were slightly impure, a quantity like this will still sell for a high price.

Even bundling them in a cloth will be quite valuable.

“Expensive?”

“Yeah.”

Still, watching the sylph sweep away the distant black liquid is kind of pitiful.

An elf from the hero’s party wouldn’t be doing this kind of work.

They tend to blow all their money away with their reckless spending.

I patted the poor elf on the back.

“If you’re short on cash, I’ll give you more. But don’t keep picking things up like this. You’re the head of a household, a mother, and a father figure. It really makes you look bad.”

You really do look bad.

Not like some beggar, though.

“When you put it like that, this elf’s presence really does seem… unique.”

“Yeah, no kidding?”

I can’t believe what I just said.

What is this, Korean?

An elf who’s the head of a family and was once a man…

Now I’m seriously curious.

“Let’s head down now. There’s no point in wasting more time.”

“Yes, lingering any longer won’t do us any good.”

We gathered all the mana stones into my inventory and descended to the lower floors.

And just as I feared, a bloodbath had broken out on the 3rd floor.

“Oh man, the bloodbath already started.”

Dozens of hunters were collapsed in front of the Neko cheonma and the orc.

How pathetic.

Did they even put up a real fight?

It’s common sense that no ordinary hunter can take on a Neko cheonma.

But wait, there are still a few hunters targeting the Neko cheonma.

But not for long.

Suddenly, a beam of light formed from the Neko cheonma’s aura and was aimed at a hunter’s throat.

“You wretched woman! When did you—?”

“Your aura is tainted.”

The Neko cheonma shook her head and cut him down.

Swish!

With a sound like something being sliced, the hunter crumpled to the floor.

What just happened?

“Uuurgh!”

“I severed your aura. You won’t be able to function as a man anymore. Tsk, tsk, why was all your energy concentrated there?”

The Neko cheonma is incredibly powerful.

She can disable someone just by severing their aura.

She’s basically ending their hunter career without even killing them.

I marched toward the Neko cheonma with a look of frustration.

“Hmm? You finally showed up.”

Even though she’s different from regular Neko cheonmas, this feels overboard.

“Wait, aren’t Neko cheonmas supposed to be like some martial arts masters from Chinese sects? What’s with the Neko cheonma Slash?!”

Honestly, I was expecting something else.

And didn’t you say you wouldn’t call out the names of your moves?

What even is this Neko cheonma Slash?